Robert Penn Warren

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Robert Penn Warren, whose complex poetry and novels drawn from Southern life formed an intricate mirror of the human experience, was the nation's first Poet Laureate. He also won three Pulitzer Prizes, including one in 1947 for ''All the King's Men,'' a richly detailed study of the life and times of a populist politician named Willie Stark, who begins his career as a champion of the people but becomes corrupted by the power they vest in him. The character was inspired by the Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long.

Mr. Warren was also a respected critic and teacher who was on the faculties of Yale, Louisiana State University and the University of Minnesota, among others. Two textbooks he wrote began as pamphlets for his first classes and became widely used in colleges across the country.

After the publication of ''All the King's Men'' in 1946, Sinclair Lewis hailed Mr. Warren as ''the most talented writer of the South and one of the most important writers of the country.''

When, a dozen years ago, Congress authorized the appointment of the nation's first poet laureate, Robert Penn Warren was named. It was a natural choice. Though nearly 80 at the time and cancer-stricken, with all his work behind him, he had long been considered the dean of American letters -- indeed, the very embodiment of the restless, ravening American imagination.

Robert Penn Warren, the poet, novelist, critic and teacher, was remembered yesterday in a memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as a man of great warmth, generosity and humor, and as a writer who did not hesitate to address the issues of his time.

Robert Penn Warren, whose complex poetry and novels drawn from Southern life formed an intricate mirror of the human experience, died of cancer yesterday at his summer home in Stratton, Vt. He was 84 years old.

Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which already houses one of the most distinguished collections of American literary manuscripts, has acquired the complete papers of Robert Penn Warren.

Robert Penn Warren, the 80-year-old poet, novelist and essayist, was designated today as this country's first official Poet Laureate. Mr. Warren, whose most famous novel, ''All the King's Men,'' appeared 40 years ago, is the only writer to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and for poetry (twice).

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